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‘I have a helluva thing to ask you, irlwhat she’s been through neither you nor I could ever iine Now, as of today its ended on the home front, but at schoolI’m sure I don’t knohat to do about the way the other kids treat her, or how she’s going to adjust-’

‘I’ll see to it,’ he said quietly ‘It’sthis in your lap It’ll be the least I can do’

‘You duht! I’d’ve done the same if I’d known, as would your father, and you well know it! As to her staying here’ she sighed ‘I don’t know Once she’s learned the ropes, there’ll be no imposition at all But there’s her fast them they should be contacted’

‘I already asked her about that,’ David muttered tiredly, an unaccustomed note of bitterness in his voice ‘She told me that her father was killed in the mines After that her mother hit the bottle, married that Tarkenton character, and drank herself to death She has relatives, and Tarkenton tried to pawn her off on thery noise ‘Great fas her stepfather called her! Just iine what it must’ve been like for her on her birthday, or at Christmas And holsseems obvious she’s never had one in her life Christ! I ca that so-called stepfather of hers and his druggy friends within an inch of their worthless lives!’ He paused, calmed himself with a visible effort, and muttered, ‘Makes a one want to become a copper, like Dad At least he’s in a position to do so about people like that!’